Exemplary embodiments relate to sensor nodes of a sensor network, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for controlling power of sensor nodes based on estimation of power acquisition capable of controlling power at a multi step according to a supply and demand of power of a self power acquisition apparatus, during an operation of the sensor nodes.
Generally, a sensor network is a technology of collecting sensing information from sensor nodes installed in various environments.
The sensor nodes of the sensor network are operated by being supplied with power through a self power acquisition apparatus, such as a solar cell, and so on. Therefore, there has been focused on operating the sensor nodes at low power.
In case of a wireless sensor node, a communication pattern mainly serves to transmit the sensed information and thus, traffic is relatively small.
Therefore, an idle time of a communication interface module is maximally long by using the above-mentioned characteristic, thereby reducing power consumption in such a manner that the power consumption of the communication interface module is reduced as maximally as possible.
However, the above-mentioned low power implementation is a simple manner since only the communication module among several components of the sensor nodes saves power. Therefore, in order to more save power, a need exists for a method for saving power consumption of all the components of the sensor nodes.
In particular, the sensor nodes need to transmit the information collected from the sensors over a long period of time, when considering the characteristics of the sensor nodes. Therefore, the sensor nodes may largely need the self power acquisition apparatus using new renewable energy, such as sunlight.
In this case, the variation of the acquired power is large due to external factors, such as weather, and so on. However, the related art controls power only by reducing the power consumption of the sensor nodes, such that the related art does not provide a method for appropriately controlling power in the case of the sensor nodes in which the acquired power is substantially varied.
The above technology configuration is a background art for helping understanding of the present invention but does not mean the related art well-known in the art to which the present invention pertains.